Israeli PM Netanyahu addresses Iranian people,

Speaking in English with Farsi subtitles from his office Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly addressed the people of Iran, carefully distinguishing them from the government. Photo: screenshot

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he will soon speak new US President Donald Trump in order to “counter the threat” from Iran’s government.

“I plan to speak soon with President Trump about how to counter the threat of Iranian regime which calls for Israel’s destruction,” Netanyahu said in a video message posted on his Facebook page on Saturday.

Trump and Netanyahu met in New York in September 2016, while Trump was a candidate for president.

“My number-one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran…” Trump said in early 2016 to the Jewish Republican Coalition. “We will totally dismantle Iran’s global terror network.”

He was referring to the 2015 deal signed by Iran, the US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany, which limited Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

Speaking in English with Farsi subtitles from his office, Netanyahu directly addressed the people of Iran, carefully distinguishing them from the government.

“The regime is cruel — the people are not; the regime is aggressive – the people are warm,” Netanyahu remarked. “You have a proud history. You have a rich culture. Tragically, you are shackled by a theocratic tyranny.”

Iran has been an Islamic republic since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when the US-backed king was overthrown, then replaced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Kohmeini.

“I’ll never forget the images of brave young students hungry for change gunned down in the streets of Tehran in 2009; and I’ll never forget beautiful Neda Sultan gasping for her last breath on that sidewalk,” Netanyahu said.

Sultan became the face of the 2009 protests when the video was shown all over the world of the 26-year-old woman being shot on the way back to her car after attending a protest in Tehran.

In 2009, many Iranians took to the streets to protest the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They claimed rigged elections.

Kurdish activists have over the past decades accused Tehran of systematic discrimination against the Kurdish population, which they say have weak representation in the governing bodies. Iran is set to hold presidential elections in May.